Update (Wed 8 Jan, 2020 10:00 GMT): As promised, Dell dedicated a small part of its CES show to the Concept UFO device (you can watch it from the 38:30 mark above). The way in which the presenters talk about a hybrid gaming experience as being a revolutionary thing is pretty laughable, but you do get another chance to see it in the flesh and hear about its specs. Ten-inch screen, huh?

Original Article (Tue 7th Jan, 2020 10:30 GMT): Since it first launched in 2017, the Nintendo Switch has had very little in the way of direct competition. Sure, Nintendo will always be sort of fighting against the likes of PlayStation and Xbox for your attention, but the experiences offered by its hybrid machine are significantly different to the more 'usual' gaming setup available elsewhere.

This could be about to change, however, as Dell's Alienware subsidiary has unveiled a new device known as 'Concept UFO'. The resemblance to the Switch is uncanny - you'll notice a screen in the middle with a detachable controller on either side, both of which are complete with control sticks, face buttons and a directional pad placed in similar locations to the Switch's Joy-Con.

The Concept UFO has a kickstand which means you can plonk the screen anywhere you like, and the detachable controllers can slide into a separate central unit to create a makeshift 'full' controller. Where have we seen that before?

It appears to take things up a notch, though; the screen is actually a Windows 10 tablet capable of playing your favourite PC games. Seemingly, Alienware has come up with a way of tapping into the portable power-loving audience the Switch has created, and expanded upon it to give players even more juice on the go. The video below from CNET shows the console in the flesh, with F1 2019 being momentarily shown for good measure.

A full reveal of the new machine is airing later today, 7th January, at 10am PST. You can watch it here if you're interested; Alienware says that it is "always pushing what's possible in the realm of gaming" and will be "introducing [its] newest gaming innovation, Concept UFO".

We imagine you have plenty of thoughts on this one. Go ahead and let us know what you think in the comments below.

Ryan can list the first 151 Pokémon all in order off by heart – a feat he calls his ‘party trick’ despite being such an introvert that he’d never be found anywhere near a party. He’d much rather just have a night in with Mario Kart and a pizza, and we can’t say we blame him.

That’s a massive ripoff... But does it have the exclusives Nintendo has?

Guess not, so it’ll not be a Nintendo switch killer.

For us consumers the more competition, the merrier!

Edit: To the ones responding to me about just running an emulator to play the switch exclusives: Of course you can. But then again you can also hack the switch, put an emulator on that one, overclock the cpu and play tons of PC exclusives.... my hacked calculator was able to play Gameboy games back in the day, everything is possible...

When not taking emulators, hacked systems etc. Into account since the general public doesn’t use that, the Switch will be fine because of Nintendo’s exclusive ip’s...

I will say this does do one thing I've long wanted from the Switch and that's a bigger screen. I know technically that's what connecting a Switch to your TV is for but my eyesight isn't what it was when I was younger and could peer at a GameBoy screen for hours. A Switch with a screen closer in size to an iPad Mini would be a must-have for me.

As someone with a bizarre motion/balance disability, I find it super hard to play games on a large screen. Even my laptop is confounded by this issue. The Switch is the most fun I've been able to have without vomiting since my brain-op in 2012.

For a long time I've been searching for a good equivalent of the Switch but for pc games, and .. this might be it.The GPDWin is, so far, my best option, but even at that size, the clunky keyboard ruins the experience.

.. price, though. .. bah, humbug..

Also, please make the fan as silent as possible. The GPDWin's is worse than a Dreamcast!!

Price is actually the only huge problem with this device, but Alienware have always exaggerated their prices, so that won't surprise me much.

The idea is great though, I hope some more makers decide to create more devices of this kind.

Regarding the competition, I have to say Nintendo has exclusives that this thingy will never have, so that's no threat for the Switch, but I've noticed they are also relying on 3rd party titles a lot lately, and those same games come way cheaper in their PC versions.

Maybe such a competition would make some publishers like Beamdog come back to their senses.

This looks interesting but might be tricky on a patent level? I dont know inhowfar nintendo has exclusive rights on the switch concept. And as always these tablets are made or broken by their price tag. if you can buy a full PC for the same price it kind of turns the whole thing into a much more niche appeal product.

Nintendo Switch concept follower? Eeeyup.. Nintendo Switch rival? Nnnnope. Take my word as a GPD Win user - consoles are consoles. Whatever may go weird on your Switch is at least the devs' concern to look into and potentially patch, not the concern of which NET.framework you have and enable or which of the several dozen DirectX versions you just had to reinstall because it comes with the package or which community patch from that one site over there you can try to get for the vsync issues on the device's unorthodox screen or where to get by on or even clumsily emulate a mouse because the gamepad is supported but refuses to work on either input plugin... Good times.

But don't get me wrong, whatever number of PC and/or home console exclusive games will be functional enough and thus legitimately portable on this thing will already make it worthwhile. And like I said before, the industry mimicking Switch's hybrid philosophy has been the very scenario to sanely hope for since 2017. That's how Nintendo has shaped video gaming for ages.

This looks pretty good f1 runs really fast although that guy cannot play the game lolI just wish Nintendo would do a pro model built with better materials it’s never going to be competition for the switch the price will be off putting for most plus it doesn’t have Nintendo’s awesome exclusives

This is the kind of thing I've always wanted. Proper pc like hardware (there is definitely some differences between windows tablet and windows pc but I'm not educated enough to really know what beyond lower specs) in a portable format. Theres a lot of games that will never see the light on consoles, be it profitably reasons or copyright issues etc. And emulators for old games in general run best on android and windows where the most work is done on them.

I love my pc but a solid feeling horizontal portable with no wobble from hinges etc is my preferred medium closely followed by consoles on TV where I can just lounge around-but obviously lacks the portability factor. If this thing had the right specs and storage capacity/expandable storage this could have potential to become a go-to (very premium) emulation game console for those who are super dedicated to the medium.

That being said, given what it is, youd probably be better off investing in a general tablet that runs windows or android and using a bluetooth controller for that specific purpose because this sure as hell wont have an accessible price. I'm guessing £1000+.

In short, adore the idea of handheld pc without the need for streaming but I'll never get one.

Mildly tempting as I have been hankering for a Windows tablet small enough to carry around and play games on (among other PC functions), but it would all depend on the specs, resolution, and battery life for this to be worth the price.

@The_Pixel_King yeah me too I have had my switch since launch and it has a small hole near the volume control and it’s not from misuse but like you said a metal body and a real nice quality screen would be fantastic. I have quite a large game collection now so I would definitely buy an upgraded model

I’ve counted my collection today and I have over 300 games for my Switch. I won’t be jumping ship anywhere else for a long time and I see switch as being around for decades with new versions every 6 years although i think a new switch will release next spring

i dig it, let everyone take a stab at the concept and explore what can be improved upon. opportunity they seemed to have missed and actually stepped in the wrong direction is having the split joycon as more viable individual controllers.

@The_Pixel_King have you played the lite yet? Sure it’s plastic but it feels fantastic and very durable, much more so than the OG. It doesn’t look “mature” I suppose but maybe the concept of mature is changing.

@Ventilator true but not all of those you’ll be able to play with console controls and on a smaller screen. Alienware could make that transition work seamless though. That would give the interest in the system a good push, I’m sure.

I want it but I fear $2k price tag or $4k. That and I've had awful lick with Dell laptops over the decades. After 6 or 12 months everything starts breaking. The screen the cooling fan the hinges. And these were top of the line.

@jarvismp I get what you mean, people are unlikely to start all over again on a new platform.

Despite this, 300 games for the Switch are a lot, but still nothing if compare them with the more than 1000 great PC games you'd end up on having by being on GOG for a year, and you'd still have spent less.

Some people like me keep on playing GOG games and still like gettting Nintendo's exclusives.

This is a laughable ripoff in the extreme. I wouldn't buy another computer from Dell unless they were literally the only choice.

I had several Dell PCs growing up in the 90s and 2000s and they were trash. Full of bloatware, random inferior versions of common programs and had the Dell branding everywhere like some kind of bad rash!

@Friendly bruh its literally a pc. Theres already tones of games on it! Did you not read the article at all? It runs windows. So you can do literally anything a pc does. Including emulation. But it wont be a switch killer. But it definently already has great games. Ignorant

Heh. if people thought the Switch's battery life was bad. This thing's can't be much more than a couple hours at best unless you're playing some old game. That and the performance can't be very good. I'll expect there's a silly intel onboard video chip in there.

Something tells me this device will be the price of two to three regular Switch consoles. I’m sure it’ll play the games, but it probably won’t have motion control, nor the ability to share the detachable controls for local multiplayer on the go.

My guess is they’ll fluff it up, then reveal the bargain price of... $699. If it ever gets released.

@Axelay71 Microsoft crashed on last gen?
How is that possible when Kinect sold 35 millions and is the most sold add-on for any console ever?
No add-on on Wii sold this much. Also.. Xbox 360 sold nearly 90 millions.

As for Sony..They didn't have success with any add-ons on either PS3 or PS4.
PS4 VR only sold around 3 millions on a market with 106 million consoles, and is why nearly all devs is ignoring VR on it.

@Stocksy Agreed. Only reason I don't play games on PC is because I don't like using a mouse or keyboard (also helps that I don't own a Windows computer). This could sway me depending on the price. Then I can be a Switch and PC port beggar.

I can hear the Nintendo lawyers filing a lawsuit against them in the video haha. This reminds me of the Apple v Samsung lawsuit, where Apple won against Samsung that the hardware was too similar in design

It's far to similar to be anything other they Copyright Violations. Even how the controllers detaches and release button is EXACTLY how Joy-Con detach. How can they not think this isn't PATENT INFRINGEMENT. Most Corporate Lawyers would tell them so just from the looks of it. And would say want me to defend this better pay out of your Bunnghole for this.

@Zyph "Since it came to this, Nintendo's got a lot to prove with their next Switch. Cross fingers."
Only a Troll can love another Troll on this clickbait.

@ozwally "I'd be really surprised if Nintendo hadnt copyright over this concept design, as its quite unique"
Actually they already did file a Patents over this already. Might want to go back and read the History of the Switch. They aren't the stupid to protect their IP.

@stevep "I can’t believe they are talking about their “innovation” in the video, it’s a complete rip-off with no original ideas at all!"
It's not anything innovative as you just mentioned it's called Patent Infringement. And it so easy for Nintendo as the video and design clearly shows "Copyright Violations"

@KIRO "Also, it’s huge, literally taking two people to hold it. You may as well have a good gaming laptop."
Sounds good but how is the game stored and how much storage can you expand? This is the problem here there is from the looks of it no physical "cart" aka Switch cart type. Also as you noted it's Huge and there is a limit to how big you can make it.

@Axelay71 "What a load of rubbish, with Nintendo doing so well it was obvious that copycats would try and ride the wave. It happened with the Wii generation, Sony and Microsoft crashed and burned."
The design and looks and detaching the controllers are Evidence of Copyright Violations. Sony they by their own words Said they stop supporting Vita and that more or less means dead on arrival.

@stevep "True “innovation” lol, Dells research team did nothing but sit around playing the Switch!"
This is obvious they did "Patent Infringement" nothing could be more closer to the truth then just looking at it. There was no innovation just hey let's copy the Switch they won't take us to Court. That couldn't be farther from the truth look at the ROM games and HomeBrew.

Not gonna lie, there are some games that arent on Switch that make me wish they were, if this thing lets you play the master chief collection on the go, I might not take my Switch out of it's dock for a couple months.

@Big-Pepsi Problem here is where do you insert the Game Cart at? This is more or less "CLOUD" gaming since storage on the device would be cost prohibited here. And as we all know you need WiFi to game and if you don't have any or have lags gaming then it worthless. Let alone you have to pay your ISP to have internet before you can even start Gaming assuming there isn't a subscription to Dell to be able to access Cloud Gaming.

Imho is useless. I mean... If I buy a pc is not only for gaming. It's for work, various stuff, and gaming. Otherwise I buy a console. This thing has probably the price of an high end gaming pc, all the drawback of a pc (os, drivers, antivirus...) and the limitations of a console, becouse you can use it just for gaming. Imho it's not a good idea.

This could be a decent competitor to Switch if it is within comparable price range. It has its pros and cons - the PC library is a huge plus, and many would already own some games on Steam/Epic, with cloud saves, so they could start gaming without any investment on games. On the downside, it is still a portable system, so it might not be lot more powerful than than Switch, especially with tricky factors like heat and battery health.

I thought MS would be the one to do this. Just make a mini Surface tablet with slide-in controllers and called it Xbox Portable X or something with X in the title. If it's cheap enough I may even buy it to run emulators.

I dont care about "ripoff" or any of that nonsense, I just care, as a consumer, about getting awesome gaming products. And this is awesome.

It'll be way more expensive, upward toward $1000, and wont have Nintendo's games or the easy docking, but it will have more power. Steam. Upgradable components like storage, and certainly Witcher 3 in full 720p and Monster Hunter World... I'm down with that!

This is a true GPD Win 2 competitor. A niche product for people like me who appreciate high end handhelds.

I'll say this though. It absolutely positively must have gyro, and an X-input switch like the Win2, where you toggle between mouse mode and controller mode.

@SwitchForce
That's nonsense. NVMe SSD has taken over PC storage. You cant buy a gaming PC nowadays without NVMe, which are flat as a cracker and about as large as a thin rectangular Graham cracker. Guaranteed this thing has NVMe. 1TB, maybe even 2TB. You can get 2TB NVMe for $200, and its 5x faster than SSD which was already 5x faster than HDD.

This will have 1TB NVMe SSD storage minimum, and microSD expansion, just like the Win 2 handheld gaming PC. And I bought that thing 2 years ago.

I like the concept. I also prefer the more open platform of the PC over the closed platform of the Switch, though that has its positives too. Sure, Nintendo has first-party exclusives. This is not a replacement for Switch. This is taking the concept of Switch and applying it elsewhere. It is a natural thing to make that form factor work more generally. Though I'll say, I saw someone else make the same point, that the detachable controllers are not even as important on something like this. Just having a gaming tablet with integrated controls that can then dock of a TV for use with a controller like Xbox type would be good for many people.

As for price, Alienware is a higher-end brand. But if this is a format people like, there will be less-expensive competition with lower specs, which could be just fine depending on the types of games some people may want to run. So I don't mind seeing that happen. But that's why this is a concept, to see what interest is.

With DDR5 DRAM and the 3000 series Nvidia cards providing better performance with less power draw this could be quite effective. Less power draw also means less heat and longer battery life, especially when the voltage and clocks are lowered. 16/32GB of DDR5 and a 3050 graphics card would justify a high price tag for a mobile device. Alienware refused to touch on hardware, probably because the hardware it would use isn't available yet and won't be until later 2020 or 2021.

Nintendo doesn't have a patent on the gaming tablet design, it only has patents on the exact designs the Switch uses, which this prototype does not copy. Even so, if a design is so good no other design is feasible it can be licensed to be used by another entity. A patent doesn't mean no one else can do anything remotely similar to any design aspect of a product.

There's a market for this, it's a branch and natural progression of mobile gaming. Gaming laptops have been around a very long time, my first one was in 2007, and I first started playing games on a Windows tablet in 2013, although it wasn't designed for gaming and plenty of people played games on tablets since the very first tablet. The Nvidia Shield Tablet, the first high-profile gaming tablet and direct forerunner of the Switch, was released in 2014. There have been other gaming tablets out there, but they usually rely on the lighter Android OS because the lower specs. Having a viable gaming tablet that can run PC games natively is a big deal. It won't be a max settings 1440p 60fps system, but the Switch has shown people don't really care about that.

It's not the Switch that spurred on mobile PC gaming, actually mobile PC is what lead to the Switch, the desire to have PC games on the go has always been there but has been less feasible because of the constraints. The Switch is the most iconic and popular option in this form factor but it is the benefactor of Nvidia's design. As for "PC exclusives": I have about 50 games on Switch, many are repeats of PC games I already have - my PC library is about 1,000 games including entire categories that are PC-only. There is plenty for this prototype to run.

@Gasarakii Fair enough. I was giving it the benefit of the doubt is running some kind of ARM processor. Which would knock down the price a little bit, but I agree with the specs you outlined. It would be quite the premium for a Switch competitor that can “maybe” play your Steam, Epic, Xbox Game Pass and GOG games.

I feel like my interest in these sort of handheld devices has really gone away since the Switch released. I used to find these things very interesting, but after having experience with a variety of these kind of devices I realized how they are usually too complicated and too expensive for their own good, and I rarely seemed to ever use them.

The Switch is just perfect for a handheld. The games are all perfectly optimized for it, it has a massive library of great games, it all looks wonderful, and best of all it's relatively cheap.

@Zyph In my opinion unless its a small company that would largely benefit from the help, then im hand off. To many things to worry about otherwise.

Plus companies can work together wittout having to disclose hardware or patent deals etc so we could get worked up for something nintendo and alienware discussed over 10 months ago.

Remember Nintendo are big boys with very a large legal teams paid exactly for these scenarios. From a consumer/avid gamer I want everything to be possible so I could have so much more options, and a more competitively priced market, also no game exclusives etc etc but now im just dreaming

@Pod One thing numerous people brought up on the video was battery life. As someone who owns a high-end gaming laptop there is no way I would be playing games on it without having it plugged in, and that is with a big laptop that has a massive laptop battery.

This just looks ridiculously impractical for what it is. It's the kind of thing where it really only appeals to a very specific kind of customer.

This will never come to market as is.
It's a concept and they are well aware of the risks.
It will cost to much
Battery will drain if running high performance games
Definitely some risks of lawsuits with detachable controllers.
Also too big
But im happy it exists and hope it gets released.

The thing about Windows 10 for a portable gaming OS, is that it's feckin terrible at managing a stanby mode when... you know... gaming.

I had a GPD Win some time ago, and while I still think it was worth every penny for the sheer volume of games I was able to play on this thing, what ruined it as a viable "portable" gaming solution was that there was no easy "sleep" ot "standby mode" that didn't wrecked system stability.

I mean, you're on the train, and then you realize that you've arrived at your destination station, so you need to quickly move, right? Well, you can't just put this to sleep. If you do, get ready for a big surprise when you'll wake the system up. Usually in the form of a black screen, corrupted graphics, unresponsive controls, and often without a mean to get back in the game without CTRL-ALT-DELETEing your way into a reboot. And even sometimes this doesn't work, and you have to do a cold reset.

BUT, aside from that, I had tons of fun with the device. I just had to properly exit any game I was playing before properly shutting down the system.

So...

Did Alienware found a fix to make Windows 10 more stable when using sleep or standby mode while gaming?

Otherwise, I don't really care for it as a portable replacement or competitor to the Switch. Still, looks fun though. Just not something I'd bring with me all the time to game on (like my Switch).

I could`t watch all of it. This is so much a blatant rip off of the switch its insane, all the way to the joy-con grip which looks almost like a Dreamcast controller when their ''joy cons'' are connected.

@sdelfin "I like the concept. I also prefer the more open platform of the PC over the closed platform of the Switch"
Explain open platform? PC and Switch are open platform and Nintendo isn't the only game maker for Switch. So not sure what your define "open platform" is but is doesn't add up here.

"This is not a replacement for Switch. This is taking the concept of Switch and applying it elsewhere."
It's not concept it already here and it is called the Nintendo Switch. Would people stop trying to be revisionist here. It's "Patent Infringement".

" the detachable controllers are not even as important on something like this. "
If this was the case then why did they make it look exactly like the Switch. Debunked again.

"Just having a gaming tablet with integrated controls that can then dock of a TV for use with a controller like Xbox type would be good for many people."
This would be a less powerful and less graphics - tablets aren't "DEDICATE" gaming device like the Switch. Let's get this Fact straight shall we.

"As for price, Alienware is a higher-end brand"
You got to be kidding higher-end brand how about higher priced with lower quality.

Too many Moles are trying to support a obvious "Patent Infringement" case. How can Dell not know where this is going and they will be the looser. Doesn't matter if it's PC game just look at the design nothing about it is anything but not "innovations". We got too many as mentioned "revisionist" and using "innovations" when it's not a there is no such "innovations". Nintendo is the "Innovation" here.

It indeed looks slick. I guess for some it's nice to have some competition, but they must also come with unique concepts if they don't just want to create a Switch clone. Besides, the fact it's running on Windows reminds me of the GPD Win 2.

@SwitchForce Yes, Nintendo is the innovator here, using an Nvidia chip found in the Nvidia gaming tablets and TV units first, a third-party USB-C port, Sharp/Innolux panels, off-the-shelf joysticks, and so on. /s

Nintendo didn't come up with the idea of a gaming tablet and didn't do much of the hardware legwork, they buy and/or license that from Nvidia and other companies. Their patents are for the specific design aspects of the Switch, not everything in the realm of mobile gaming. AW is not infringing on any design patents Nintendo holds, and even if there is a design that is so good it can't be feasibly duplicated it can be licensed, which Nintendo of all companies knows because they use slightly modified hardware from Nvidia to run the Switch (which is also why Nvidia abandoned their gaming tablet line to not compete with themselves, otherwise I would have an Nvidia tablet instead and Nintendo would be in hot water with another lackluster AMD-based console).

The Aikun Morphus X300 did the "Joy Con" idea before the Switch, though:

All of the above was from 2015; over a year before the Switch was even revealed.

"Even before Nintendo announced the Nintendo Switch, previously known as NX, the Chinese electronics company Aikun has already released Morphus X300. Launched during the Global Sources Electronics Show in Hong Kong in 2015, it will be about two years old when the Nintendo console has been finally launched."

It won't be worth the price. It's Alienware so I say it'll be at least $600. PC also lacks exclusives bad without steam which you also cannot play many games and almost no newer ones without a internet connection which on the go this will lack.Reminds me of their attempt at that PC they made for steam that flopped.

Ah yes, the whole "Nintendo big success so third party is rip off" spiel. After some time, surely we have to be fine with similar devices joining the market? The PS4 ripped off the Xbox One. Or was it the other way round? Or did they both rip off each other's previous generation? Both are home consoles with similar looking controllers. The sky is falling.

In other news, this looks cool. It's clearly going to have a very small niche. I'm sure those users will love it. Hopefully Tekken gets a switch port so I don't have to worry about casting my wallet into oblivion.

@SwitchForce No i think its you who does not know not dell with a legal team and representative who could have even been in discussions with nintendo. Do you have the full picture or just getting annoyed for no reason?

`Imagine a world where you have access to triple A games wherever you are´...

Good start.

However, since I really enjoy my switch, I really don´t mind this type of hardware becoming a standard for the industry in upcoming years. So I like Dell stepping into this void concerning PC-gaming. I just hope that stuff such as Divinity II will still come to the Nintendo Switch since I don't like spending money for 2 similar systems.

Will be interesting to show this to my eldest and have a convo about it with him. He’s a massive PC fan and prefers the mouse keyboard play over a controller, so I can’t wait to hear what he thinks of this concept.

You need to launch the game once with internet to verify ownership, then you can play offline the rest of your natural life, whenever you want, wherever you want. I own a GPD Win 2, with STEAM, and play offline at work all the time (or at least, I used to, not so much lately).

And exclusives aren't the point of PC gaming. 98% of the best games available are multiplatform, and almost all of them release on PC. The point of PC is enjoying the vast majority of the best games in whatever way suits you best. For me, it's better graphics with gyro. I can only get better graphics on PS4/X1, and can only get gyro on Switch, but on PC I can have both at the same time. And that makes PC the only other platform I care about besides Switch.

@oceano The same can be said about a TV, making the Switch's screen useless at home, but plenty of people have praised the Switch for freeing up the TV so their kids or spouse can use the TV. The same appeal applies here. Just because you don't use it in a certain way doesn't mean it isn't an advantage others utilize often. Personally, I use my Switch in bed from time to time in handheld mode because it's convenient. There is always the single device scenario too, that this AW device would be chosen instead of a home PC setup. That is a natural progression of the console-PC divide shrinking as both gain functions of the other, such as the streaming ability of Nvidia Shield TV units bringing PC games to the TV with controllers.

@SwitchForce There was no public patent for the Switch in 2015 for any Chinese compay to 'steal'. Also, the Aikun was shown publicly as a near-finished product at a trade show in 2015, but it was realistically in development over a year earlier. So there's objectively no possible way they could be the ones who copied; your logic makes no sense. You're grasping at straws. Just let it go; there's nothing Nintendo can do, because the Switch idea was never unique in the first place.

Edit: And this is why a Switch 2 probably won't happen. Once the clones start rolling in, Nintendo will need to go off in a new direction. They can never take on pure hardware manufacturers in any given space so they always need to move on to untapped markets once their ideas gain traction and become copied. $20 says Ring Fit is our first glimpse into the next console from Nintendo.

@SwitchForce What are you even talking about? You're trying to imply Aikun copied the Switch, but then contradicted yourself by saying Nintendo didn't have a public patent.

And not only that, but years before, was the Razer Edge from 2013

And the Wikipad from 2013:

It's all the same concept as the Switch: detachable tablet with detachable controls at the side - where you can separate the tablet from the controller part, and dock the tablet part to an external monitor and use the controller part as a wireless gamepad. You can argue Nintendo were the ones who copied this basic concept from Razer then refined it with the Switch. About the only thing Nintendo did differently, and the part you can argue Alienware copied, was that they used a separate central piece that connects the Joy-Cons together.

@StevenG I'm in the same boat as you. I want a portable gaming system that I can also use as a PC, for productivity, design, coding and whatnot.

You should keep an eye on the GPD Win Max (not the GPD Win 2, which was released 2 years ago). Supposedly, GPD are going to launch it this year and we'll hear some news about it in the coming months. It's going to be quite large, though (about the size of an 8" Ultrabook), so it'll be more of a "baggable" than a portable.

@westman98 I think the bezels are actually straight. If you look closely, you'll see that it looks like the screen itself is positioned at an angle inside the casing, so the lower end of the screen is lying deeper inside the device, making it look trapezoid. I already commented on what's being up with that earlier, but come to think of it, they may have done that to reduce effects of daylight on visibility, when used outside.

For everyone out there talking bout it, there never will be a SwitchPro or a Switch2. But there will be a SwitchU and a New-SwitchU and a New-SwitchU-Pro.

I just need Retrobit or someone to make a cheap handheld with a screen size that big to emulate retro games. I dont care if it runs windows or has removable joycons or what not. Just bit boy type thing with a big screen. It could be made far far cheaper than this and im in

@ThanosReXXX
The bezels are definitely straight, but they are trapezoidal rather than rectangular, which is very weird.

The machine itself looks to be a Switch Pro in terms of hardware specs, with Mortal Kombat 11 running a bit better on it than on the Switch. It will probably have a very short battery life and be uncomfortably expensive, but it's a cool device in general.

@Doktor-Mandrake Perhaps games and accessories, but not consoles. I'm talking about launch prices here. PS4 launched at $399. Xbox One launched at $399 and $499, depending on the model. This Alienware portable will probably launch for considerably more than that. The Switch is still $299 or $199 for the lite. I'll agree that costs can add up quickly if you're buying a lot of games and accessories. Nintendo usually keep their consoles affordable. That affordability is part of the allure.

@yuwarite I had an earlier version of that, it's an interesting handheld but I found it to be unreliable. I suppose they could have improved over the years but from what I remember while using it the whole experience felt very niche. Like, I got it for emulation but I think the system works best for the type of person who wants to work on a game on the go or do some other homebrew related work.

@oceano Yeah that is my final judgement on these devices. When it comes to PC gaming I like to stick to actual PC's. I have a nice gaming laptop and I think that is the perfect way to do portable PC gaming. Sure I need to use it at a table or desk to really enjoy it but that is a part of the PC experience, most of the games I like to play on it are mouse and keyboard games and the a lot of others have really high requirements if you want to play them smoothly.

When it comes to PC gaming there is a big difference between desktop hardware, laptop hardware, and mobile hardware. The desktop hardware can get ultra high-end but it's big and isn't exactly potable. Laptops can be very high performance these days but you aren't going to have the upgrade capabilities or high-end desktop PC related capability. Mobile hardware on the other hand is what you will find in tablets, and while the high-end tablets can be very capable for mobile hardware it isn't going to be nearly as capable as a good gaming laptop.

Most of the big PC games these days are designed to take advantage of desktop and gaming laptop hardware, so if you are using mobile hardware you will probably have to make a lot of compromises for the games to run well. The lack to dedicated hardware optimization has a lot of do with this, most PC games are designed with a good graphics card in mind. Then there is the way most PC games are designed with a good sized high-res monitor in mind, so a lot of the text might look very small on a compact mobile screen unless you have options for enlarging it.

@HexagonSun It's too "affordable".The affordable, in this case cheap, price meant cutting corners. That's why the display is so low quality. Not low resolution mind you, that's a different issue. The color temp is bad, the view angles suck, the display isn't ever bright enough, that kind of quality problem. It is also why the case cracks and the whole thing is creaky and rattly.

Another couple hundred dollars, not a huge deal compared to the money most spend on games, would have made for a much nicer system.

@StevenG here we go again haters of Switch making biased comments to downplay the Switch success and hardware innovations. That is fine by me and the rest - it's your lost leaving the rest of us whom will fully support Nintendo Innovations.

@Doktor-Mandrake I prefer looking at it as Nintendo games retain their value. At least part of that is due to so many people still wanting to play their games, even years after they release. Mario Kart 8 is a prime example. I can understand that it would be frustrating when you just want to play their games without spending a lot.

@StevenG I love my Switch and I play it portably a lot. I've had the same one since launch and haven't noticed any of the problems you mentioned. No matter what you think of the build quality, it's a brilliant concept. There's no way it would have been the success it is now if it cost hundreds of dollars more. A successful hybrid is going to have to make concessions in order to stay competitive. If you're willing to pay so much more, it seems you're exactly the sort of customer Dell is looking for with its Alienware portable. It's a niche item that wouldn't make it if didn't play already established PC games.

@SwitchForce Just because you want a budget console, doesn't mean everyone does. I love the switch, I just hate that they didn't even try to make a premium version. I bet I buy more switch games then you, speaking of supporting nintendo.

There aren''t any hardware innovations in the base switch. It's an nvidia shield tablet with controllers like the wikipad. Come off it. The fit ring is innovative. Which is why I bought that right when it shipped.

@Ventilator Don't know what you're talking about but PSVR has sold 5 million units and is one of the most successful VR headsets. Of course it's not going to sell boatloads because its an add-on that costs as much as the console but nonetheless it has been a success for Sony.

@JayJ That's basically what I want it for. I like my Switch, but I find it a bit awkward to use in public. Having an ultrabook looking device, which I can work and sneak in some AAA gaming time on is something I really want, which is why I'm excited for the GPD Win Max. Also the Win Max will have a large Qwerty keyboard, so I can actually type properly on it, unlike the Win 2. The only real downside is that it's not pocketable, but neither is the OG Switch, so I'm not too bothered. Also, it's using the same Ryzen APU in the Smach Z, so the games will perform much better than the Switch.

@StevenG Here we go again making unsupported claims on knowing their R&D better then Nintendo. People need to stop thinking they know my gaming or buying habits this tells me alot about one's personality when they make such comments. And again trying to compare apples to oranges. Shield isn't a Switch let's get this Fact Straight. People (moles) haters of Switch Success try to make false equivalence. But the Switch success has shown otherwise. When others compare the Switch to a Tablet is all one needs to know. Also FYI, I bought it one the March 2017 spending near to $1,000 for BoTW and Switch release when buying all my Nintendo. Did you do that as well if not then you weren't supporting Nintendo Switch.

@MrMetroid Yes, but not a success when it comes to attach rate or third party support.
Even Sony ignores VR as almost none of the first party games supports VR.
Sony always ignore their own add-ons within first 12 months, as proven on PS3 too.